Jenson Button says McLaren must keep its expectations realistic at this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix.
McLaren has struggled in recent races, with the high-speed circuits at Spa and Monza emphasising the weaknesses in the Honda power unit. While the team has been targeting Singapore as a circuit which should play in to its hands, Button warns against setting targets which McLaren is unable to achieve.
“There’s always a lot of anticipation in the build-up to this race, and for us it’s no different," Button said. "We’ve had a couple of really challenging races, but we’ve said for a while that some of the circuits we go to towards the end of the season should be a bit better-suited to the stronger elements of our package.
“There’s no denying it’ll be hard work, and we aren’t expecting miracles overnight. But, Singapore is a fantastic circuit, it’s one of the longest races of the season in terms of time, and we quite often we see a Safety Car there. So, anything can happen; we’re hoping to learn a lot about how our car works in this configuration, and take as many positives from the weekend as we can.”
While the Honda power unit has been limiting McLaren's competitiveness, a senior team member told F1i in Italy it only believes the team has the "fourth or fifth" best chassis on the grid.
McLaren currently sits ninth in the constructors' championship and its last points came in Hungary, where Fernando Alonso finished fifth and Button came home ninth.
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